Weekend Forecast
Low 75 High 95
Isolated
Thunderstorms
'We should pay athletes."
Sports Opinion Jayme Blaschke
Tom Wilson
Former Aggie Football
Coach happy coaching
high school
page 3
Tips to beat the
heat this summer
page 2
The Battalion
Vol. 90 No. 158 CISPS 045360 6 Pages
College Station, Texas
"Serving Texas A&M since 1893"
Friday, June 21, 1991
niversity installs new broadcasting uplink, video system
By Tammy Bryson
The Battalion
tiadisot
Texas A&M has taken a giant leap
forward in communications technol
ogy with the installation of a new satel
lite broadcasting uplink and a com-
g ressed video system, said director Dr.
od Zent of Educational Broadcast
Services.
Both of the systems can be used to
transmit educational and other types of
programming globally.
The compressed video system,
TransTexas Videoconference Network
(TTVN), uses fiber optic cables that al
low two-way communication between
users.
"A&M is the only state university in
Texas to have an interactive video net
work such as this," Zent said.
The system can be used to set up
teleconferences between two or more
cities, he explained.
Another use of the video network
will be to transmit instructional pro
gramming, such as college courses,
from campus to campus, he added.
The system will primarily be used by
the agriculture department, but it is
available to the entire university.
"There are 14 sites scheduled to be
completed before July that can access
this network," said A1 Powell, commu
nications specialist at the Texas Agri
cultural Extension Service (TAEX).
"Each university in the A&M system,
as well as a few other sites such as Dal
las, Austin and San Antonio will be in
cluded."
The second addition to the commu
nication facilities at A&M is a satellite
broadcasting uplink, which allows
one-way video transmission.
Although the satellite system is sep
arate from the compressed video sys
tem, the two systems are very compli
mentary, Powell said.
"The satellite network will allow
A&M to communicate world-wide, all
the way from Alaska to the Virgin Is
lands," Zent said. "With a double hop
(which involves making two satellite
jumps) we can receive programming
from somewhere as far away as Japan
and then send it to another universi
ty."
Zent added that the new form of
technology enables A&M to distribute
materials at a much lower cost than be
fore the University had this system.
"We previously had to rent a satellite
transmitter in Dallas or Houston which
was very expensive," Zent said.
Both of the new systems are part of a
$319,000 project funded by a federal
grant.
Education Broadcasting Services will
maintain and operate the systems.
"The agricultural department has no
definite plans for the compressed vi
deo system, yet," said Dr. D.A. Suter,
associate dean of instruction in the col
lege of agriculture. "One use for the
technology will probably be to teach
graduate courses at off-campus sites."
Zent said installation and testing is
being completed and the systems
should be put into use sometime in the
fall.
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Testing the waters
Members of the Aggie Swim Club prepare for their swim meet Friday evening. The club is composed of junior high and high school students.
Treaty flop
mars chance
for summit
Differences impede arms negotiations
BERLIN (AP) — The United States and the Soviet Union failed
Thursday to overcome the remaining hurdles to a landmark arms
control treaty, clouding prospects for a summer summit between
Presidents Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev.
But Secretary of State James A. Baker III and Soviet Foreign
Minister Alexander Bessmertnykh, emerging from nearly two
hours of talks, gave differing assessments of the progress they
made on the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty.
Baker said "three major issues" are holding up completion of
the treaty, which would reduce by 30 percent the number of nu
clear missiles, bombers and submarines that can span the distance
between the United States and the Soviet Union.
President Bush has made completion of the treaty, which has
been under on-and-off negotiation for nine years, a condition for a
summit with Gorbachev.
"We are right where we were when we last met, with respect to
a summit," said Baker, answering reporters' questions with
Bessmertnykh at his side in the garden of the U.S. ambassador's
residence. The two foreign ministers, meeting at the end of a 35-
nation Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, last
held talks on the treaty in Geneva on June 8.
Bessmertnykh, however, said he and Baker "made considerable
progress" on the treaty. And he added, "I think we can close all the
outstanding issues in the coming weeks."
The Soviet minister said he and Baker had discussed an agenda
for a summit and some agreements that would be signed there.
The differing views appeared to reflect Gorbachev's strong de
sire for a summit to dramatize his need for Western aid, as well as
Bush's reluctance to rush into one before the arms control
agreement is nailed down.
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I University Police Department participates in national seatbelt survey
By Jeff M. Brown
The Battalion
Texas A&M's University Police De
partment has started an Honor Roll
Seatbelt Program created by the Na
tional Highway Traffic Safety Adminis
tration in support of President Bush's
goal to achieve 70 percent national
safety-belt use by 1992.
The program consists of two obser
vational surveys, taken 30 days apart,
counting only driver belt wearers at
predetermined locations. The survey is
taken with the help of the Texas Trans
portation Institute to see if a 70 percent
usage is sustained across the two sur
veys.
Lt. Bert Kretzschmar with the UPD's
Crime Prevention Unit said the first
survey was taken June 3. Without any
public awareness of the random count
taking place, 75 percent of the drivers
on campus were seen wearing their
seatbelts.
If both surveys show that more than
70 percent of A&M drivers wear their
safety belts, the University will receive
an award.
"If we're successful, A&M will be
only the second university in the coun
try to receive the N.H.T.S.A. Honor
Roll Seatbelt Award," Kretzschmar
said. "However, we would be the first
in the Southwest."
The first award went to Virginia
State University.
The surveys will consist of 16 on-
campus locations with a count of one
hundred at each. The second survey
will be sometime in July, but Kretzsch
mar could not reveal the exact date.
Each year about 45,000 deaths result
from motor vehicle crashes, or about
123 deaths per day. Kretzschmar said
those numbers are equivalent to a ma
jor airline crash every day of the year.
"It is because of these large numbers
that we are encouraging and enforcing
the use of safety belts," he said. "Our
ultimate goal is always to prevent inju
ries and save lives."
For more information about the
safety belt and child restraint law, call
the Crime Prevention Unit at 845-8900.
ped
Mentors provide support for students' various problems
By Karen Praslicka
The Battalion
The main purpose of the
Texas A&M Mentors program is
to give students a helping hand
to succeed in their scholastic
and emotional lives, said the
coordinator of the University
program.
Daniel Orozco, assistant
director of the A&M Career
Planning and Placement Center,
has been a Mentor for the past
four years.
More than 400 A&M faculty
and staff members are Mentors.
The staff partcipating hang a
placard outside their office door
that identifies them as Mentors
to let students know they are
part of the program.
Orozco said it is the Mentors'
philosophy to be there for
students who might be having
problems or who just want
someone to listen. Some
problems students have
discussed with Mentors range
from struggles with their classes
to serious emotional problems.
Often students are more open
when talking to Mentors
because students identify with
them as adults and believe
mentors can be objective,
Orozco said.
"They'll hear some of the
same things from us their
parents would say," he said.
"But they won't listen to their
parents because that's Mom and
Dad."
Orozco said the Mentors do
not have all the answers, but
they try to find someone who is
qualified to help students in
need.
Sometimes Mentors refer
students to other Mentors.
"We're not trying to give
someone the run around," he
said.
There are faculty and staff
members who do not identify
themselves with the Mentor
program but still make
themselves available to
students.
Orozco said just because a
faculty or staff member does not
have a Mentor sign outside their
office door does not mean they
do not care about students.
"Many people do the same
thing without being identified
with the program/'he said.
Dr. Ray Milford, professor
and associate head of soil and
crop sciences, said he has
always had an open door policy
for students.
Milford said he cannot
separate his role as a faculty
member from his role as a
Mentor.
Even though he has been a
Mentor since the program began
in the early 1980's, Milford said
he does not know if he has ever
had students visit because they
know he is a Mentor.
"Fifty percent of the students
probably don't know the
program exists," he said.
Milford said he is thrilled to
see students become successful,
whether they came to him
because he was a Mentor or not.
"It's always pleasing when
you think your interaction with
a student helps them solve a
problem," he said. "But they
might have done the same thing
whether they ran into you or
not."
Dr. Fidel Fernandez,
academic advisor in general
studies, said the only reason
Mentors belong to the program
is because they have a genuine
interest in seeing A&M students
succeed.
"It's an organization that's
strictly voluntary," he said. "It
doesn't assist us job wise."
Fernandez has been a Mentor
for three years, and said he does
not think the program is used
enough by students.
This is an opportunity for
students to discuss anything,
academic or personal, with
someone, he said.
"There is a deep sense of
commitment to the educational
mission and for the students to
be successful," Fernandez said.
Milford said he believes the
program was started by Dr. Rod
O'Connor, former A&M
chemistry professor, because
O'Connor believed students felt
they did not have access to
faculty members.